The Domesday Book is compiled

William the Conqueror ordered a survey of land, owners and resources across much of England. The result, called the Domesday Book, is one of the most detailed records of its age.

Parts of northern England, the cities of London and Winchester, and much of north-west England were not included.

Context

The National Archives says William ordered the survey at Christmas 1085 and that it was carried out the following year, 1086. Contemporaries called the whole operation the description of England. The name Domesday, linked to doomsday, was in general use by the mid-12th century, since the record allowed no appeal.

The survey recorded who held land, how it was used, and what had changed since the Norman Conquest of 1066. It is not a census. The people it names are almost all landholders, so ordinary peasants appear mainly as numbers attached to estates.

The record survives in two volumes. Great Domesday covers most of the country, while Little Domesday, named for its smaller size, covers Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. It seems to be a surviving part of an earlier, fuller draft.

Areas left out include the cities of London and Winchester, Northumberland and Durham, and much of north-west England. Only certain border areas of Wales appear. The sources consulted do not state a single purpose for the survey, so we do not assign one.